Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) is one of the greatest conundrums in the philosophical world, alternately inspiring and mind-bogglingly frustrating. In this critical introduction S.J. McGrath offers a series of incisive takes on the philosopher's thought, leading readers to a point from which they can begin or continue their own relationship with him. McGrath deals extensively with Heidegger's excursion into ontology, for which he is most famous, and also devotes a chapter to Heidegger's phenomenology, including an examination of his best-known work, Being and Time. No book on Heidegger would be complete without a discussion of his life as a Nazi, and McGrath does not shirk that duty, offering a chapter on the philosopher's politics.